A Tree, a Mask, and Me
by Mahalicious
Summary: Hello and thanks for spending some time reading my story! The characters of this oneshot are directly inspired from people I actually know. Somehow a mysterious Morburh Mabuhay on facebook and my close friend Kyo who are being shipped because of Kyo's tsundere behaviour so all the OC credits go to them! Thanks again for your time and hoping you will like it as much as I did!


"Why should we even climb up that thing?" Kyo grumbled, looking up at the imposing tree in front of her. _Why did I even follow him?_

"I never forced you to follow me," the so-said 'him' chimed, and Kyo growled, aware that he was stating the plain truth which, of course, she would never admit.

Her reason, at first, seemed logical though. She had chased that nitwit because she was fed-up of him hiding his face behind that stupid bear mask. But the distance she chased him on got longer and the questions she steadily yelled at him ran out, and she realised something. Why did she want to see his face that badly? She let out a curse and looked away from the boy as he started climbing up the tree.

Morburh Mabuhay was the boy she hated the most out of the whole worldwide population, and God knows she had met lots of people. Playful, sarcastic, and annoying were the adjectives that got the closer to his hateful self. But that wasn't what made him the most despised. After all, many other boys could be playful, sarcastic and annoying. No, what had Kyo obsess so much over him was the mask he continuously wore, hiding his face and identity to everyone. The tat bear mask he strictly refused to remove and the all-mighty behaviour he had everytime someone asked him who he was.

'Who I am?' he'd say, a smirk floating in his voice. 'Well who do you think I am? Hm? Maybe I'm your friend, yes. Maybe I'm not, who knows. Isn't it a funny riddle game?'

"You did!" Kyo hissed. "If you had told me who you were from the beginning, we wouldn't be here!"

He let out a laugh and his brown head disappeared among the branches. "You're persistent, you know?"

"You're unnerving."

"You could ignore me and your life would become peaceful again." A hand appeared in front of Kyo to help her climb up, and the red-haired girl brushed it off, boiling inside.

"My life stopped being peaceful the second you appeared. I want to know who you are so it goes back to its peaceful condition."

The bear mask looked down at her, irritating as ever, and she frowned, looking straight in the eyes she could barely guess through the holes. It seemed to her like Morburh was smiling under his mask, truly amused and puzzled, and she felt a familiar wave of heat reaching her cheeks. She shook her head and pressed her foot against the trunk, determinate to go up that tree and break that mask into pieces.

_Want me to follow you till here? Well, be prepared to regret it, lil' shit._

She had never climbed up a tree before. But neither had she done lots of things she had done, all of that in order to know Morburh's true identity. She had hidden inside billion closets, followed him to his house, hid cameras, paid a detective, set up traps, and the list could go miles and miles. And of course, she was unmasked everytime.

She couldn't recognise her own self anymore. When did she become that obsessed about Morburh Mabuhay?

She was now halfway up to where the boy was sitting when suddenly, her foot dropped.

"Wha-"

She closed her eyes and desperately tried to cling to the rough wood, the fall immediately unreeling in her mind with the pictured pain of her back hitting the ground, awfully convincing, when out of the blue, a hand caught her wrist. She squealed and her heart skipped a beat.

"W-What are you doing?" Kyo gasped.

The hand pulled her up and soon, she was sitting in front of Morburh among the boughs. "Helping you," the boy said in his forever amused, nearly caring, tone. "Because you're a persistent idiot."

Kyo blushed and looked away, rubbing her wrist. It was the first time the nitwit ever touched her, and the fact it had happened at a critical moment made her uneasy. It would be an understatement to say she didn't prefer to fall rather than having to be grateful to him.

"I didn't ask for your help, Mr. Lil' Shit," she groaned.

"I wouldn't like to know that my persistent stalker got hurt because of me," he simply replied, leaning against a branch. "So whether you screamed for my help or not, I would have helped you. But your pride is something I'm very fond of anyway, so I have to admit I would've been a bit disappointed if you had begged for my help."

"First, I'm not a persistent stalker," vociferated Kyo. "Secondly, I'm not yours. Just so we make this clear."

"Would you accept to be mine if I showed you my face?"

She blinked. "W-What?"

Morburh tilted his head, folded his arms, and with his smothered voice, he repeated. "Be mine, and I'll show you my face."

The sunset was no far, and the sun was already casting its pinkish rays through the foliage of the tree, drawing golden, orange and rose patterns all over the little space. Frail beams of lights diffused thousand patterns on the branches, on the boy's clothes, on the chestnut ruffled hair that surrounded the bear mask, reflected on the blond highlights of it, stained the air with unreal trails of colour, flecked with billion particles of dust, whirling and whirling endlessly. No bird had dared to sing, no squirrel had moved, and all Kyo could hear was the whimsical wind as it fluttered around the leaves, teasingly caressing her cheeks and tickling her neck with her crimson hair. She couldn't tear her gaze away from the tat mask in front of her and suddenly, there was only… Him.

Be mine.

Two words that beat in her head nearly as fast as her heart.

Be mine, and I'll show you my face.

A sentence that made the blood shiver down her veins and explode where her pulse crazily palpitated.

She quickly pinched her thigh.

Why would it be him of all boys? Her heart couldn't be beating so fast for such a blockhead, nor could she find him… Amazingly beautiful in the middle of all this—Nope. He was a dick.

What a disgusting dream. Or nightmare?

And he was probably enjoying all the face changes that operated during those little seconds that passed, because HE could see her face and not her. Surprise, blush, disgust, anger. Quick as lightning.

Hastily, Kyo moved backwards. "D-Did you lose your mind?! Did you just expect me to say yes?"

"Really?" he asked. "I thought it'd make you happy to know what I look like."

"You're such a sneaky bitch that it would be no wonder if you scam me, you lil' shit. And even then, that's not even how you ask people out!"

A long silence stretched until Morburh finally moved. He leaned closer to Kyo, and for the first time, his aura wasn't unnerving.

It was scary.

Disturbing.

He was a few centimetres from her and she could clearly smell his citrus odour, an unexpected smell from someone she pictured more with a wet bear smell. Her heart was pounding, begging to break free from her chest, and she could hardly swallow, her whole body burning under the boy's gaze. All around her, the rays made the outlines of the mask look translucent, guessing the silhouette of Morburh's face, within reach. Kyo simply needed to reach out her hand to pull off the mask, and caught by surprise, he would have no right to claim the deal, right? Because he was the one who leaned.

But she couldn't move a single finger.

She was just here at his mercy.

"Then maybe," he murmured. "You want me to be more romantic?"

Breathing was now out of reach, and impulsively, Kyo raised her hand to slap him.

It was stopped halfway, firmly and by the same hand that had touched her earlier.

And what followed was immediate.

The blush was such that Kyo could barely discern anything, and the contact of Morburh's skin against her tense one didn't help at all when she abruptly moved backwards and lost her balance. Panicked, she waved her free hand to grab anything before she fell, and what her hand found was a fragile flexible material.

And then, the cold hard ground against her back.

But it didn't hurt as much as it should have.

No, it wasn't the ground she felt the most, but a warmth that surrounded her whole body, something soft that separated her from the dirt and held her tight. As if she could disappear any second.

And against her chest, she could feel the distinct throbbing of… A heart.

She widened her eyes and stared at the furtive sun that filtered through the leaves, suddenly realising what was happening.

Morburh Mabuhay had protected her.

She felt him move, his breath warm against her neck, and she shivered when he started to straighten up. He looked down at her, and Kyo suppressed a curse.

The mask was down and a pair of widened brown eyes were peering at her. They were of the colour of chocolate, dotted in gold, under perfectly arched eyebrows. His cheekbones were high, his face smooth, oval, and his mouth was half-opened in a worried grimace. And at that second, Kyo had never seen such a beautiful face.

Morburh Mabuhay's face.

She clenched her fists and felt something crack in her left hand. The bear mask.

She blinked and Morburh's lips cracked into a smirk, the first she ever saw on his face. "I told you that you were a persistent idiot."

"Let go of me!"

He tightened his embrace. "I saved you. Now you're indebted to me."

Kyo's face turned a deep red and unguardedly, she kicked him, aiming for his sensible zone. "What do you mean indebted, you moron? Let go of me now!"

He let out a small moan, grumbled a curse, and loosened his grip, enough for Kyo to free her arms. Swiftly, she started to squirm away, dragging herself on her elbows, but soon enough, Morburh was once again on her, pinning her arms against the ground, and pressing a knee against her thigh.

"Stop," he ordered, and something in his tone froze Kyo.

She looked away. "Let go of me."

"Not before you pay me."

"Go to hell!"

"You said this was not the way one asked a girl out," he said. A flash of pain lit his eyes, but he gathered his courage in a grin. Kyo nearly felt bad for kicking him. But here again, it was Morburh Mabuhay. "I am a romantic man when I need to be."

"I said go to h-"

The rest of her words were lost when she felt something warm against her lips. A soft and tender pressure brushing against her mouth, slowly, carefully, gently, sending billion goosebumps through her whole body when they moved. Heat sprinkled down her bones, and her skin felt like it would melt any second. Her own lips moved on their own, hesitant at first as they parted but swiftly fighting for dominance. His tongue slid first between her teeth and wrapped itself around hers, playful and curious, but immediately, Kyo's tongue rebelled, and boldly licked his lips, clearing itself a path towards his mouth. He groaned softly, and his fingertips made their way to her cheeks, stroking the soft skin of her burning face, of her neck. His thumb pressed against her jaw and her own hands, trembling, dived into his hair in an attempt to draw him closer and closer. Some far corner of her mind cried out to her raving heart to slow down, but did it even bother caring? It cut her from all the sounds around her, didn't point out to her the moan that escaped her lips which would scandalise her. Morburh's breath brushed against her cheek, scorching, and she desperately wanted more, exploring his mouth deeper, his citrus smell prevailing her whole senses. She lowered her hands to the hem of his shirt and suddenly, her lips were cold.

She blinked, and Morburh's face was once again dominating the horizon, his lips curved into his eternal smirk.

"Well well well," he laughed, his voice hoarse. "What do we have here?"

Kyo widened her eyes, feeling a wave of anger spreading through her body, and before she got the time to hit him, he had already stood up. Abruptly, he put a certain distance between them and in his hand, Kyo noticed the tat mask.

"Y-You kissed me, you lil' shit!"

"I did?" He checked the elastic of his mask, and pouted when he realised a crack in the plastic. It was as if the kiss had never happened.

Kyo felt like crushing her foot in his not-mysterious-anymore face. "Don't act dumb!" He smiled, tying the elastic back, and her heart skipped a beat. Looking away, she muttered, her face red. "I-If it didn't happen, then d-d-d-don't come to me calling me yours, nitwit."

And when she glanced at him as he put back his mask, it seemed to her like Morburh Mabuhay had blushed.


End file.
